Read on and experience the beautiful countryside that we look after here at Mottisfont and the New Forest. Written by Catherine Hadler the Area Ranger for Mottisfont and South West Hampshire, this blog will enable you to see the work we do to protect and enhance these places and the importance of drawing people into the natural world.

Tuesday, 26 November 2013

Is that woodland on fire!? Nope, its just the leaf colours
catching the light of the sun – November is the winning month for Autumn colour
and right now they are absolutely superb.Beech, Chestnut, Acer’s, Birch – all look like they are aflame with
glowing embers and sparks of fire and I urge people to take a walk through our
woodlands round Mottisfont or up Stockbridge Down and see the carpet of reds,
oranges, yellows and gold that is currently cloaking the landscape.

Talking of stunning views, I took this sunset picture from
the top of Stockbridge Down looking across to Danebury hillfort and the fiery
sky took my breath away.

Ancient View - no wonder Iron Age people built their fort here, with a sight like this to look out on!

We have caught up on ourselves after the destruction of the
storm and are now busy with the usual Autumn tasks; volunteers have commenced
scrub clearance on Stockbridge Down and have made a fantastic start in the
clearance of scrub around the Juniper trees – looking at what was done last
year and so far this year, I think we should get all the Juniper tree’s freed
from the scrub this winter which is excellent news – next stop, regeneration!

Tree survey season is upon us again – so if you see me
plunging into hedgerows armed with a clipboard you know I am doing the annual
tree inspections – luckily for us the storm came before hand, so we don’t need
to go round and re-check all the newly snapped limbs.

Deadly Saviour...Geoff and chainsaw lurk in the scrub around the Juniper (front branch).

Taking a breather under a newly cleared Juniper tree

Our firewood processing work has increased with the arrival
of the cold weather – people have rushed to their woodburners to heat the house
and realised they need logs!We sell
fire wood, kindling and charcoal here at Mottisfont Abbey in bags and in bulk
truckloads so if you ever want some home grown quality firewood then contact David.chase@nationaltrust.org.uk
- he even offers delivery, hows that for service!

Our Wiltshire Horn flock are doing well, chomping their way
through the winter grassland and taking great pleasure in hiding in the depths
of the scrub where we can’t find them…until Tony and Peter carved a new path
that winds through the upper reaches of the slope and reveals all the hidden
grassy glades where the sheep are enjoying hiding out.We now have a brilliant band of volunteer sheep lookers, one for each day of the week and some, who help us check the animals on a daily basis so we know that they are OK - these are mostly local people who are helping serve the needs of their common land by assisting with the grazing animals here.

I have made my last creations of the year using nature’s
ample bounty – rosehip syrup and cider.The cider (well its currently fermenting apple juice, but give it a few
months) is at present bubbling away merrily under my table at home looking like
disgusting turgid fizzy baby poo – but believe it or not, in a few months time
it will be beautiful golden cider with a strong sting in its tail - its not for
the faint hearted…

Lovely bubbly cider - no need to call the RSPCA, the dog is dozing, not drunk on cider fumes....

Monday, 4 November 2013

This is a Malayan incantation supposedly used to summon the
wind – and after the battering Southern England has just taken, you can see why
they used to address it so respectfully.

Well Mottisfont still stands as does the champion Plane Tree
and the Millennia old Oakley Oak.However, as the sun rose bright and clear the morning after the storm,
we soon discovered that the winds had taken their toll.Within the grounds of the Abbey stood a
wonderful looking tree called an Indian Bean tree.This tree had beans of about a foot long that
drooped off its branches and gave a very exotic appearance.Alas, however, it is no more; victim to the
winds, our only bean tree has fallen.

The fallen Indian Bean tree

The abbey fishing hut has had a narrow escape from fallen Beech limbs
(this is the same hut that got crushed in the 1987 storm, you’d think its luck
would change sometime) and the visitor car-park has many snapped out willow
trees and broken Oak limbs lying around and is half underwater from the excess
rainfall.

Across our countryside estate we had trees to clear up that
had fallen throughout Mottisfont village and were blocking roads and I whizzed
up to Stockbridge to check the fence line that ran round the Down and the
Marsh.Despite 4 fallen trees and limbs
on the Western slope of the Down, all the fence lines remained intact and the
sheep and cattle safely within.

Our biggest challenge lay in a series of large Beech and Oak
trees that had gone down over the river and one of its side channels.After wading across the flooded park-lands, we
found that an entire Beech tree had snapped out in two large segments, which
had gone down over the side channel and was consequently pushing the water flow
into the park field.There were also two
larger specimens that had fallen right across the main channel and were acting
as a very effective dam.It has taken all week to clear through the debris and winch out the larger stems.

Me up the ladder attaching the winch chain - you can see the size of the limbs that have snapped out.

We did find some the name Hayley Williams carved into one of the fallen stems and I love to think how many years ago someone carved that in that tree, possibly some child climbing in the boughs on a make believe adventure - so Hayley, if you ever read this, you should know your tree has fallen.

An absolutely stunning example of Beech 'spalting' in the stem of a fallen beech. The patterns are beautiful, and make me imagine a map of the world.

Despite the debris everywhere, Monday also saw our fungi
forays go ahead.Our local fungi expert
Roger Newton and his wife Jackie came and took groups out across our New Forest
site at Bramshaw and then in Spearywell woods at Mottisfont, to see what they
could find.And it really is incredible
how much you actually start to spot when you are looking for them.Tiny Mycelium grew up from the leaf litter
whilst Birch Polypore’s stuck out like dinner plates off rotten trunks.Hedgehog fungus, Dog Stinkhorn, Amethyst Deceiver
(a particularly pretty purple one), Coral fungus, King Alfred Cakes, Milk Cap,
Sickener, White saddle, Pigs Ear and many more were found as we wandered only a
very short way.Roger and Jackie also
showed me a Death Cap fungi just off from our visitor carpark – this is one
mean little fungi because of the way it works.Even eating a mere 50grams would be fatal, but the symptoms don’t show
up for such a long period – 6-48hours after ingestion – that by the time you
realize something is wrong, the damage is done.It causes kidney and liver failure and, in one last nasty twist, you go
through the process of feeling very ill and then actually feel much better-
just before it causes complete organ shutdown and kills you.This is a photo of a young Death cap – note
the Olive green of the cap which is fairly unique.Take note and hold a healthy respect for it
as even Roman Emperors were murdered using this inconspicuous looking fungus.

The Death Cap - obviously doesn't kill slugs as it does us, judging by the bite marks...

Fungi are one of the most successful of all living organisms
and it actually holds the title for largest living organism on Earth - previously
thought to be the Great Barrier Reef.The
last decade has discovered some types of fungi (specific to America I believe)
which spreads by tiny root matter underground and covers an absolutely vast
expanse of area qualifying it as the largest living organism on our
planet.Something to ponder next time
you eat some mushrooms on toast.